Many years ago when I was doing research as a Visiting Associate Member at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, I shared a house with several grad students from various different disciplines who were studying for their D.Phil. I was struck by the number who asked me what economics was about and would I please write anelementary book some day, so that an intelligent and well-educated person could learn about it. I never forgot.This article is a simple introduction to the discipline, or at least as simple as I can make it. Economics coursestend to contain a lot of mathematics or a lot of diagrams, or both. This article uses neither. It might be useful to you if you are similarly intellectually curious; or if you are just starting a course in economics and looking for an easy overview; or perhaps are contemplating studying the subject and wondering what the heck youmight be getting into. If the article interests you and you would like to learn more, please check out the link at the end. This takes you to a free book of economics notes that sticks to using diagrams (lots!), with only thetiniest bit of algebra in one small section. The notes explain this article in more detail

.

Not counting thesenotes, I have written 5 books, the latest of which isGoing to University: the Secrets of Success, Exposure Publishing, UK, 2007. This is designed to help sixth formers (grades 11-12) and assist you to adjust quicklyand easily to university life.

Economics is a subject notoriously difficult to define clearly for outsiders: a formal definition might be that itis a social science that deals with the production, consumption and distribution of goods and services; insimpler terms it deals with how people produce and work, in order to survive in this world. Mainstreameconomics covers things such as how prices are determined in the market; how best to organise the economyfor efficiency and growth, and what sort of things can prevent a perfect solution; how wages are determined;what causes undesirable events like inflation and unemployment and what can be done about it; and how andwhy countries interact through foreign trade and foreign investment.Sciences attempt to be value-free and objective; economics is no exception, and for this reason words like“ought” or “should” tend to be avoided, as they are

normative

and the discipline sticks to facts which are

positive

. It has to be confessed that it is harder to be completely objective in the social sciences, dealing asthey do with human beings and their behaviour, than in the natural sciences, which are concerned with theinanimate world and non-human life forms.In life we constantly make choices and each time we decide to do something, let us call it “X”, then we choosenot to do something else, we can call “Y”. Economists refer to this as

the opportunity cost,

i.e., what is givenup to get what is actually chosen. It is most clearly seen when constructing a budget and deciding how toallocate money between competing uses, but it applies everywhere. It lies behind all cost calculations and costcurve diagrams: the cost is the price that has to be paid for person A to get to use the stuff (iron ore, the serviceof a worker, a delivery truck…) rather than let someone else (B) use it.The study of the economy is traditionally divided into two sections,

microeconomics

, which looks at bit of theeconomy (think of looking down a microscope at something small), especially prices, what firms decide to doabout price and output decisions, and wage determination. Then there is

macroeconomics

, which looks at theentire economy and as such is concerned with the size of total output, the level of inflation, the amount of unemployment, and also foreign trade. We will look at these in turn.

The determination of prices in the market and the system known as

the price mechanism

Students used to be taught to chant in unison “prices are determined by demand and supply” and no doubtsome still are. If we take an object (again we shall call it X) if no one wants it at all, then it has no price – theresimply is no demand. Probably a wrecked and burnt out car would fit this description. If some people want Xthen it will have a price, as whoever owns X can sell it and use the proceeds for some purpose or other. Willthe price be high or low? It all depends on supply and demand. Think of an auction: if there are four old pianosfor sale and 12 people really want to buy one, the price will be bid up and up, and therefore be high. Supply

and demand! But if there are 20 pianos for sale and again 12 people want a piano, the price of each will be low.That is the way that prices are roughly determined in the world. We use diagrams to show and analyse this.

An increase in demand

occurs if at the auction next week, say, 18 people turn up wanting a piano and there arestill only 4 instruments to bid on. This increase in demand leads to an increase in the price of the pianos. Againcomparing with the first week,

a decrease in demand

would occur if only 2 people turn up wanting a pianorather than 12, which would lead to a lower price than in the week before.

A decrease in supply

? Instead of four pianos, the number falls, say to one, and with an unchanged number trying to buy one, the price will increase. Correspondingly, an

increase in supply

(with unchanged demand)causes a fall in price.These simple examples illustrate the working of supply and demand, which operates outside auction rooms aswell as inside them. Notice that the process of the analysis is to start in equilibrium then alter just one element,holding all the other features unchanged. In economics we mostly do this and then look at the result. This iscalled

comparative statics

: “comparative” because we compare two equilibrium states; and “static” becauseeverything works through to equilibrium where things cease to change.

Dynamic analysis

is different as thingskeep altering over time. A course in elementary economics does not get this far.There is one objection to the theory of price setting which on the surface seems valid, but is in fact false. Someobject that firms set prices and that is all there is to it – the theory of price is just wrong. However, if we think about it, if a firm sets it too high it will wind up with unsold stock, which is costly to store, but if it sets it toolow the firm will run out quickly. Either way the firm could do better: it is not

profit maximising

. If firms wantto do as well as they can, they have to set a price that just clears the market, i.e. they sell it all but only just.So it’s back to supply and demand! What if they do not profit maximise? Competition will eventually forcethem out of business. It is no accident that most economists have an inbuilt urge to promote competitionwherever possible. Only those economists paid by organisations trying to cling on to a monopoly position tendto be against it. Are they bad economists? No, just like lawyers, they are paid to promote the interests of their client but they do not have to believe it implicitly. We will not even think about political spin-doctors.What about the operation of the price mechanism (market mechanism)?When a firm believes that it can make a profit by producing something, X, which perhaps has a relatively high price the firm moves in and does so. This increases the supply of X and drives the price down. As differentfirms in different industries constantly chase profits in this way,

resources

(land, labour and capital) keep being reallocated from what they are producing to doing something else, as someone hopes that will makemore profit. In this way, the price mechanism allocates resources to where they are most needed and high prices (indicating that people want to buy X), along with potentially high profits, act as signals to producers.Why did I say earlier “this is the way that prices are roughly determined in the world”?Because things get inthe way to prevent a perfect solution, particularly for society. Let us list some of these.1. Some people own all or most of X so they can dribble it onto the market at a slow rate and get a higher priceas a result

(monopoly)

.2. Some people do not know what is available and where it is to be bought so they do not demand X at all

(information failure)

.3. Some people have a lot of money and others have little or none

(unequal income distribution)

so that a fewincredibly expensive cars, watches, yachts and the like are produced – there is a demand from the rich for these.But on the other hand, little food is grown and some people are hungry or starve; these are the really poor, whocannot afford to buy food, or at least not enough food.4. Some people will not move from where they live to get a job elsewhere. The result is that firms trying toexpand are unable to find enough workers

(factor immobility).

5. Some goods and services are provided in too small quantities for what are perceived as the needs of society, perhaps like health and education

(merit goods).

Contrariwise, some goods and services may be over-consumed for society, perhaps cigarettes and alcohol, which contribute to ill-health and accidents in a country

(demerit goods).

6. Some goods and services might be needed by society as a whole but few individuals or none can or will buythem. Examples include the defence of the country, a police force, a court system for settling disputes, or streetlighting

(public goods)

.7. Some goods and services, when consumed, might have an impact on people other than the personconsuming

(externalities).

Common examples of this are pollution, congestion, noise, and litter. Such

external diseconomies

are common; but external economies that when consumed by X provide benefit to others mayexist. These might include such things as:

·

Training and education: when one firm trains workers and they leave, other firms get the benefit.

·

Public education is widely believed to benefit society, so that many countries provide at leastelementary education for free, outside the market system.

·

Television and radio broadcasting for spreading information quickly – again many countries provideat least on channel without charge.

·

Health provision: quickly treat those with tuberculosis and it does not spread to others.All the above points prevent a free market system from reaching a perfect solution as to what shall be producedand in what amounts.

Wages and wage determination

Wages, like prices, are roughly determined by supply and demand. Again “roughly” as several factors get inthe way of a pure market solution. The demand side comes from firms and organisations who want to hire people to work for them. The firm, if trying to be as efficient as possible, hires people until finally someoneadds less revenue to the firm than it has to pay as that person as a wage. In the jargon it is called when

themarginal product

equals the wageOn the supply side there may be all kinds of restrictionsObvious ones include differences in intelligence, paper qualifications (degrees, diplomas, in the UK GCEresults…), physical strength, and the completion of a specified training programme, previous experience, andso forth. The need to meet such criteria tends to mean fewer people may be qualified or able to do a particular job.We can list a few more general factors that can affect supply and prevent wage equality.1.

Non-competing groups

: shelf-stackers in a supermarket do not compete for work with neurosurgeons inhospitals. A shortage of surgeons does not lead to shelf-stackers applying to do operations and increasing thesupply of surgeons.2.

Trade union and government restrictions

: may intervene in the process by establishing a minimum wage.The result of this usually means less employment of people overall, but a greater reward for those who canactually find a job.